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Outdoor Wire Fences, Walls Side Yard Large Patio, Porch, Deck Back Yard Design Photos and Ideas

The back garden is a perfect metaphor for what the couple hoped to achieve with their project. "We feel a part of the city, but there’s still this sense of privacy," says Ali.

"You can see [with] this building how the design is in the small details and at the urban scale," says Cynthia.

Inspired by the surrounding landscape of chestnut trees, rocky hillside, and bubbling stream, Portuguese architecture firm 3r Ernesto Pereira chose to blend into, and take advantage of, the local geography rather than fight against it at this sleek, modern home near the coastal city of Porto. At a cost of €100,000 (approximately $125,000) and measuring about 140 square meters, this stunning, wood-and-glass retreat took about four months to construct.

The east-facing facade opens to an outdoor deck, which is furnished with lounge chairs by Loll Designs.